I was updating The Courier’s website, www.couriernews.com, one of my nightly chores in the newsroom. The phone rings.

It was a good friend and former work colleague who was going through the Arkansas River Valley on Interstate 40 and wanted to stop in town and eat some dinner while watching college football. Good gravy, who would turn that down? He asked me where the best would be to meet.

Uh-oh. If I am anything, it’s not a local restaurant critic. I have my old favorites, but mostly choose my nightly lunch fixins when I get groceries. It’s easier to remember stuff that way, and it’s a lot lighter on the pocketbook.

I did remember there was a couple of places close to the exit where they had TVs. We met up about 20 minutes later, got a table — which wasn’t near a TV screen — and started catching up.

We had figured out the world’s problems — and how the Arkansas Razorbacks won’t be as bad as people predict — and got ready to go our separate ways. He asked for a to-go refill on his Dr. Pepper, and our waitress obliged.

This is when a simple dinner went from great to downright, what?

Obviously I should be punished for not knowing this, but I didn’t order my to-go refill Diet Coke when he did. I have failed miserably yet again.

This meant, tragically, not only did the waitress have to walk back and forth to give us our tickets and return out change, now she had to go back to get another soda and return to wait on another table.

That’s not me making a big deal out of nothing. She actually said after I asked, “Oh, all the way back there? OK.” And I’m sure she said something else going to another table.

This is why I don’t go out much, period.

I should have just refused the drink, got up and left, or asked for the manager before I left. My friend and I just wanted to get out of there before she said something else, or I came unglued.

I have all the respect in the world for all people — from the front door to the kitchen sink — who work in the restaurant and hospitality industries. There’s no way I could wait one day without going nuts. I’m not the most positive person in the world, either.

But when I’m having a rough time, I do my best to shield myself from others and try to stay out of the public eye. I know I fail at this miserably, but this waitress flat out made it a point that I inconvenienced her.

So, I got to see a good friend, stayed out of the office for an hour, and was totally insulted — in addition to paying way too much money for what I ate. You won’t read my critique of this place any time soon.

Finally, and this is what I think about the most, she went through all that drama over something she has to do on a regular basis as part of her job. If she didn’t want to walk back there for a refill, she should have walked home.

Politicians, who have already been running for elections in 2014 and 2016, are talking about flying missiles into Syria. We’re still not out of Afghanistan.

Our economy hasn’t completely recovered, and will continue to crawl because we’re tossing away at least $1 billion a month on Afghanistan, $1 billion on Egypt, and not investing in the United States of America.

However, all that pales in comparison to the fact that I was in the wrong and should have asked for a refill when my friend did. Really? I don’t think so.

Email Sean Ingram at sportseditor@couriernews.com. He won’t ask for a refill, honest.

Its called "customer service" and what passes for it these days is disappointing. No wonder the news lately includes instances of people writiing good and bad comments on the bill. Some waitresses and waiters are downright rude, but its a hard and low paying job, so I mostly give them the benefit of the doubt.